Raising steaks: Beef costs sizzle to an all-time high

Beef prices at an all-time high?

For a place like the Rio Grande Valley, home to great fajitas, burgers dripping with flavor, this can’t be a good thing.

That’s why every once in a while it’s nice to look at these old Advance News grocery ads from 1984, 1995, and 2005 just to remember the “good old days.”

The price of ground beef hit a record all-time high in May, according to a recent story in The NY Times — $5.98/lb.

That represents a 16.2 percent increase from the same time frame in 2024.

If you really want to choke on prices, take a gander at the average price of sirloin steak in Texas — $12 to $14 per pound.

This Week’s Grocery Prices

As of this week, H-E-B’s own ground beef brand was selling for $4.67 per pound; the pure lean ground beef, $7.58 per pound.

Meanwhile, a ribeye steak was nudging $17 per pound. (Source: H-E-B.)

Last but not least, fajita beef (skirts) was selling for $10.29 a pound.

Why the rise in prices? According to the same NYTimes story, several factors come into play.

The simple price of doing business for ranchers is more expensive to operate.

Forget the fact that now, too, a lot of the people who worked in the meat-packing plants are MIA, thanks to ICE enforcement at job locations.

Plus, and perhaps more importantly, the matter of supply and demand must come into play — the number of cattle available for beef processing across the U.S. is the lowest it’s been since the 1950s. (Source: NY Times.)

In fact, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, the overall cattle industry is the lowest it’s been since 1952.

In recent years, now compared to 2019, for example, the number of cattle has declined 13 percent.

More woe is me — according to the same story, sourced from the U.S. Ag Dept., the average beef herd in the U.S. is comprised of only 47 head of cattle. Large herds made up of 100 or more cattle represents only 10.5 percent of all beef operations.

In other words, our beef supply, the vast majority of it, comes from small cattle operations that can least afford price fluctuations and the increased cost of doing business.

None of this is funny, but it almost makes one want to ask — Tofu anyone?

If only it tasted like sirloin, fajitas.